through the eyes of the faithful soldier
by Gh0zt1y-g1itch
Summary: Strike commander John "Jack" Morrison, a title placed upon my head that would hold infamy and hatred for more years than I will ever be alive. This is my story then, for the whole world to see and learn through the eyes of the faithful soldier. I caution you, however, for this is a gruesome tale of life, loss, friendship, success and its fall, and the wisdom it has caused.
1. interlude

Through the Eyes of the Faithful Soldier

Semper fidelis. The mantra of the armed forces. Always faithful. This was the ideal I tied my mind to as I forged along my path of life. Funny how the most loyal of people are betrayed most often. I guess the world is cruel in this manner, as it is in many. It is our jobs as decent people to move on and grow from failures, I know, but sometimes you need a boot in the side to teach you how wrong you've been. This, along with many others, is what has been forgotten for the less favorable millennial rout now taken with today's youth. I am not here to lecture about that, no, but to show the world through my eyes. Through the eyes of Strike Commander John "Jack" Morrison.

I was born and brought up in Indiana under the care of a farming family. As such, I grew with traditional values of morality and an inert sense that one head is never better than two on the same page. Of course, as is the way of life, all these things came in to question as I grew older. As I grew wiser. The greatest lie you'll find is the easy way, and trust me, there is no easy way to wisdom. All of it is earned the hard way. Through suffering and pain. So when I part the wisdom I've gained, just know that it is the pain of life in which I say it. If you think you can brave the storms I couldn't, however, be my guest.

I joined the military at the young age of eighteen due to a terrorist strike that threatened to shatter the ground beneath the very foundation of who I am. I remember the day clearly, almost as if it was yesterday. Life has a way of doing that, forcing down the memories you don't like till you drown in guilt and sorrow. I couldn't do anything… that was the problem.

It was a normal day, I remember. I got up at the standard five in the morning, my alarm blaring at me in the old style it was created in. with a harsh groan, I cast out my arm to shut it off. I sat up to the protest of every muscle in my body telling me to take another five minutes of rest. The blue sheeting of my bed slipped down my body to reveal a relatively toned torso and dark grey shorts. I grew quick in my youth, so there I stood at a strong six feet and two inches with rounding. Sitting was always the hardest step. From there, I could shut my mind into the morning drone routine without my body bickering at me anymore. After my shower and breakfast, I found myself at five thirty ready for the day's work.

I stepped from the house to hear the rooster crow, meaning that a new dawn had risen. With a happy sigh, I smiled and placed my hands on my waist. It was a simple life to lead, I know, but sometimes the simplest things yield the best results. Besides, someone had to do it. I had a loving family, good friends, and a rapidly forming education along with the gift of the body I was born with. When the cards are dealt in your favor, sit back and enjoy it. That was what I had planned to do, to get a degree in agriculture and expand my family's property to be able to grow more and produce better results. This year we grew wheat.

Waves of shiny tan grain swam through the wind, running from my family's house in all directions, excusing the driveway of course. This was the place I grew. This is the place I learned a lot of my lessons. You reap what you sew, growth takes time, and the grass is always greener in the spring time. Little things like this built the foundation of my mind. It was a calm peacefulness that encompassed my mind that morning and filled my day as I worked. Until it hit midday. This was the turning point, I remember, of not only my life, but my moral build up.

I remember the look on my mother's face as she raced through the fields to me. She bounded to me with what seemed like extreme joy, come to find out moments later that that was far from the truth.

"Jack!" she yelled to me. I ran to meet her and when she stopped before me, I took her arms in mine, concern filling my mind.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Some terrorists just blew up the omnic factory in Detroit!" she replied frantically. My eyes widened at the thought of the news she had just brought to light. No doubt she and the rest of the family were watching the news, meaning the TV would be showing the story. Without a second thought, I let go of my mother and took off through the fields. Eight acres is what I ran across to get back to the house. I didn't stop, would not stop, nor slow down. A deep resonance in my bones had begun to form as every footfall led me one step closer to the truth that was unfolding. I burst in the front door and was greeted with the sight of every one of my family members looking at me with tears and anguish present in their eyes. Dad stood behind the couch where my younger brother and sister sat, along with my older sister who was visiting from collage for the summer. He was the first to speak to me. He gripped my shoulders tight and looked me dead on with a hard seriousness. His posture mirrored mine and his eyes were just as intense as mine would soon grow.

"A terrorist group just blew up the omnic creation center in Detroit…" he said low and gruff.

"Yeah, I know, mom told me. What's going on? What's the casualty count?" I asked hurriedly. I may have just ran a long distance, but I didn't feel winded.

"Son… it was a large blast. Over a thousand are dead and another thousand omnics destroyed." my father informed me. My mind went blank. How could someone murder so many innocent lives? Who could be so morally improper to do such damage to others?

It should be noted beforehand that I believe that, sometimes, something immoral should be done to save another. I know these people believed that what they were doing was correct, but they did not seem to understand how to properly weigh moral with moral. I know my morals. I know what I can and can't do. But what these people did was purposefully against all human values. They could have done this at night, but no, they had to go and break society's morals to show that they were not to be heard, but to be obeyed. This kind of moral breakdown is inexcusable and, in my mind, is a forfeit at life. Your rights end where others begin, not after.

At this point, a mix of emotion flooded through my system. Hate fused with anger in a melting pot of horror and disgust all swelled through my system, leaving my ears ringing. A single thought was all I had, and it took all of thirty minutes to think of what I was to do. Someone has to do it. That little phrase echoed within my mind as I left my home, signed up for the armed forces, and promptly started my military career. It was time for me to step it up and protect all that I loved in the world. And so began my tale, the most unplanned route turned into the most glorious downfall.


	2. Chapter 1: journey of a thousand miles

Chapter 1: journey of a thousand miles

I always knew a military career would be difficult, but I honestly expected worse. My first day in boot camp was mostly educational. Aside, of course, from the drill sergeants constantly yelling in my face. It was a long day filled with legal things they had to say and getting us recruits settled into our barracks.

I gave a disinterested glance around the barracks and the living quarters. It was mostly just grey concrete, almost like a prison. The main area beyond the living quarters, next to the door to the courtyard, was pure concrete. The court yard was wide enough to fit the platoon out on for morning formations for runs and exercise. It should come as no surprise that the living quarters were small, even though each of us was to share a bunk bed. When I entered my designated bunk on the third floor of the barracks, I was greeted with my bunkmate already in his bed catching some sleep after the long day of introduction of what I was to later call "welcome to the grind". He was Filipino, from what I could see. Short hair and unshaved stubble formed on his face enough for it to seem like he had a permanent shadow upon his chin.

I hopped into bed below the knocked out man before I myself fell asleep. The bedding was so extravagantly tight, however, that I couldn't get underneath the sheets. It was the most uncomfortable sleeping arrangement I have ever taken apart of, and I've slept in horse pens before.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of a loud horn originating from the center of the barracks. Immediately, my body shot upright, hitting the bunk above me with my head. My bunkmate, however, was already out of bed, racing to formation. I smiled at the challenge and followed him soon after, having slept in the newly issued BDUs. We stopped abruptly in front of our commanding officer, who was almost startled to see us there so quick. But because this was the military, we were berated for leaving our team behind. It was from that moment that everything I did became a mistake in the eyes of my drill sergeant. The boots weren't shined properly, the fold on my pants wasn't four inches from the side of the dresser, and showing up late, early, or on time was always an accident.

It was during this hard training that me and Gabriel, my bunkmate and battle buddy, had begun a small rivalry over who could fail the least. The winner is still unclear to this day. No matter the hell, however, I was sure Gabriel would have my back, and for that I gave him my trust and protection. We were true brothers in arms, always seeming to get in trouble together. However, there was one night we crossed the line.

"You want to do what now?" I asked him as I raised my eyebrow to which he gave a wicked grin and held up the jar of scorpions.

"Come on Jack, you're not a coward are you?" with the magic words said, we proceeded on with our night operation. Gabe led the way, looking both ways as he exited the barracks. I followed soon after, kneeling low and looking around, trying to find the guy on fire watch. Once I spotted him, I grabbed Gabe's shoulder and pointed to the guy. Gabe looked over, gave a quick nod to me, and moved skillfully from the door of the barracks to that of a nearby ditch used for training, going completely unseen.

Suddenly, the flashlight shown over the distance between me and Gabe, forcing me to take cover inside the barracks. After a moment, the guy on fire watch, jerry, turned and walked away to look the other way. I then moved, staying low and ran as quietly as possible before sliding in the ditch beside Gabe, who smiled and gave me a confident fist bump before handing me the jar of scorpions.

After bracing ourselves, we moved from the ditch and quickly, moving from space to space going unseen by several fire watch members and the patrol tower as we approached the officer and sergeant quarters. I felt the movements before I even made them. I slid up to the side of the door to the entrance and grabbed the handle. I looked to Gabe to see if he was ready. He looked around and now seemed to see the ground we had covered. We had moved across the entire base avoiding some prolific drill sergeants and recruits forced to pull fire watch. The spot light in the center hadn't caught us once by some miracle of god. Gabe turned back to me and nodded. I twisted the handle and pushed the door open. A long dark hallway stretched before us like an abandoned road after midnight. Gabe swooped inside and I followed quickly, moving under the cover of darkness. A few steps in, however, Gabe's foot hit a squeaky floor board. He stopped immediately and closed his eyes, seeming to cast a prayer that not one of our drill sergeants would wake. Apparently, he didn't have a good connection. A moment later, the light swam from underneath the door to our right.

"…merde…" Gabe swore before hopping into a broom closet, leaving me in the hallway. My focus seemed to swim and sharpen as ideas ran in my mind. The broom closet wasn't big enough for both of us and the door outside was too far away to reach, as was anything down the hall. But, I noticed the door hinge. It opened outward.

Thinking quick, I moved behind the door as it swung open. One man looked out, looking for what seemed like forever to me.

"What is it honey?" I heard inside the room. But that's not what startled me. My eyes widened as my jaw dropped. That was the voice of another man. One of the drill sergeants was gay. This was surprising for a great many reasons, but to keep from offending the weak minded, I'll just say this. When you find out that one of your superior officers were hiding a secret like that, you immediately became immune to certain things.

"Thought I heard something…" the familiar voice of my drill sergeant said before he closed the door and went back to bed. My drill sergeant was gay. Revelations, my friends, oh how fun they are! The odds of this happening and us being here at this time were so off the charts small that I still think that fate led us there. This was the night, after all, that began the third phase of my life.

Gabe stepped from the broom closet and looked at me in the eye, realizing what I had done to hide. Within the same three seconds, a mirrored smile came across both our faces. This night had gone from a little harmless fun to painful dirt on our Drill sergeant. Focusing, we turned and moved down the hall once more. We made it into the dress room and we got to work, grabbing three scorpions each. The room was square, like a hokey locker room, cement as well. I kneeled at each boot and quietly slipped a scorpion into a set before standing tall. The way out went without a hitch, no sound nor drill sergeant. The moment we got outside, we ran to the side of the base and took shelter from the center lighthouse like appendage before sitting to let our hearts calm.

I looked over at him and immediately we began to laugh lightly. Or, at least, we tried to laugh lightly. Gabe, after a few seconds, began dry heaving to keep down his laughter. Now let me be clear, there is nothing funny about being gay. However, there is a great many things funny about finding out your big bad drill sergeant is a bottom to his usually submissive lover. Now that was priceless.

Gabe and I held our stomachs as our forced quiet laughter turned into an unfortunate medley of squeaks. After about three minutes of that, we collected ourselves and snuck back to base, almost getting caught by a handful of fire watchers and the spotlight tower, but ultimately, we got back to our barracks, hopped into bed, and attempted to fall asleep. Until I heard Gabe's voice pierce the darkness.

"Hey Jackie." He said simply, staring up at the ceiling with his arms behind his head. He knew I hated that name, but we were friends. He called me that to get on my nerves. It worked every time. I sighed and rubbed my eyes.

"Yes Gabe?" I replied.

"Were gonna need that black mail soon, aren't we?" I smiled wide at his comment and nodded my agreement. In the most evil voice I could muster, I spoke.

"Yes Gabe." He let out a small chuckle and finally we both were able to relax and fall into slumber. But this is the military. So in about an hour of sleep, we heard the bugle.

"Damn it!" I heard Gabe roar as he rolled off the top bunk and hit the floor with a hard thud. I didn't even open my eyes, I just began to laugh. Apparently, one hour of sleep made Gabe a touch too salty. My light chuckle, in his eyes, was worthy of him grabbing me by the leg that dangled off the bed and dragging me first to the floor, then down the hall, then down two floors of stairs. Well that's one way to wake a terrible friend who enjoys your misery.

At the bottom floor, I stood up and punched Gabe in the shoulder as hard as my tired arms would allow. The trip to the den of sergeants would never wind me. The physical training we did all day yesterday before that, however, is a different story. Gabe just shrugged it off like we usually do and got in formation. I stood at his side and had to damn near bite my tongue till it bled to keep silent when our drill instructor walked up. Gabe, however, didn't seem to see him till the last moment. I almost laughed at the face Gabe made and probably would have, had it not been for the fact that we were in formation and weren't even supposed to flinch or move.

That drill sergeant looked so steamed, I knew the platoon was in for hell. He was red faced, wore his usual scowl, which I am hazarding to guess is still there to this day, and limped occasionally. When he wasn't looking, I stepped on Gabe's foot, thinking maybe the pain would allow his own red face to turn to a normal color. I could tell he wanted to laugh so badly, and it physically hurt both of us not to. Gabe closed his eyes tightly and tried the best he could to calm his breathing.

"Alright assholes!" the drill sergeant roared, "I don't know what you THINK I thought when I found those scorpions, but it damn well wasn't 'hey this might be a coincidence!'" he said, mimicking what he was saying and applying drama to his little words. Both Gabe and I at this point were having abdominal obstruction from the intensity of our abbs flexing just to keep our mouths shut. My breathing, at this point, became strangled to the point it sounded like I was shot in the lung. When the drill sergeant walked back down the line, he saw our struggle and smiled evilly before chuckling darkly. He began to furiously nod at the two of us, knowing that we were the culprits.

"Oh, so you two are the comedians. Think this is real funny, do you?" he said, getting up in our faces, attempting to stare us down, which didn't actually work do to the fact that we were both taller than him.

"Go to my office and sit there till I arrive to properly punish you." He said darkly, and off we went. When we made it to the room in front of his office, we took two seats side by side in front of the non-see through glass door. I leaned forward and placed my elbows on my knees and Gabe leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. I got to thinking, in that moment, over the events of last night and came to realize that we had made a good team. We could successfully infiltrate any base we could ever want now with the skills we gained. I looked back at him and for a moment, I caught his eye and we both thought the same thing, I know. Because we both burst into excessive laughter.

"Did you- did you see his limp?" Gabe said in between bursts of laughter. I couldn't even reply, I could only nod as I lost breath in my lungs, no longer able to properly laugh. Both our laughter stopped as the drill instructor walked in the door. We sat up strait and placed our eyes upon the horizon, as our military training told us to do.

"Follow me." He said simply, and we followed him into the office. It was a small square room with a plain wooden desk with an assortment of personal momentous he had gathered over the years. We stood at attention as he sat before us and glared beneath the brim of his hat.

"Not one, not two, but all six of our instructors immobilized by you two morons coming in at the dead of night! I don't know how you two snuck past every single fire watch guard, the light tower, and the sniper towers, all of which have personally told me they were alert all night, but I do not think either of you are fit for the military."

I remember his scowl and the face me and Gabe made. Ours was of pure shock and terror at the possibility of being removed from the military. Gabe was the first of us to speak.

"You can't be serious! We are the strongest recruits you have! We work harder and know more than any company on this entire base!" he shouted back. The drill sergeant seemed, of course, unfazed as he looked over to Gabe, who was now leaning on the desk of the drill sergeant with both hands.

"That may be, but we don't need clowns, we need soldiers that get the job done." Already, a plan was forming in my mind. I pulled Gabe back and looked him in the eye as he turned to me and looked me in the eye. He knew I wasn't one to manipulate others, it was against my morals. It wasn't against his, however, so the nod I gave him was all the confirmation he needed from me that I was on board with him. He gave me a confident smile and turned back to the drill sergeant. What followed, I could never have imagined he could do.

"Alright drill, here how this is gonna go." He started darkly, "Jack and I are gonna stay enlisted men and you're not gonna do anything about it."

"Oh?" the drill smiled as he looked up at Gabe, undaunted, "and why on earth would I do that?" I couldn't see his face, but apparently, Gabe made an expression similar to Satan crawling out of your closet at six in the morning. That drill sergeant didn't look afraid, just wide eyed and shocked.

"Because if you don't, were gonna tell the entire base about that little friend you had in your room. You think recruits lack respect for you now, wait till they find out that you're not strong enough to be honest with yourself and others. See the respect you'll fail to get once everyone realizes that you're a bottom to some civilian."

Let me tell you something; that is not a good blackmail, not even close. It was the look on his face that made it work even a little. The sergeant's face went beat red as he learned what other thing we had done the night before.

"Out. GET OUT!" the man roared and we obeyed, leaving his office. As we stepped out, we exchanged a nervous look and walked back to formation with a general sense that no good thing would come from this. All that day, we didn't see him. We worked under the other drill sergeants who all limped along. The surprise came at the end of the day as we were heading off to bed. I laid down and closed my eyes, trying my best not to worry at what was to come.

The next morning, I remember, was both the worst and best of my life. A large and strong man stepped into our room at three in the morning and all he did was wake us up and motion for us to follow. I exchanged a nervous glance with Gabe, but we both followed. Outside we went into the clear night. The stars were covered in clouds, yet the night seemed to reflect the lights given off the base, giving an eerie glow to the night. We walked off base, something both Gabe and I found odd, but there was a rank on his coat and his uniform was perfect. I looked at the base we had just exited, the last I would see it, but I didn't know what was to come. The large man, I could see now had multiple scars and not only that, had the familiar four stars on his coat. He got in the front seat, told us to get in, and slammed the door. I hopped inside the left side and Gabe jumped in behind the driver seat.

The car started soon after, a man I didn't recognize in the driver seat. He had dark military style hair, but I could see that he had never been in battle. The moment we moved from the parking spot, the larger man started his speech.

"You two are noble for volunteering. We were told you were the smartest and strongest military members on base." He started, not turning his head from the road. "Just know this, what you two will go through is a lot more painful than you might have been previously told."

I looked over at Gabe and he had the same look. He mouthed his very insightful words of wisdom to me with his alarmed look. 'What the hell?' I looked back up at the man and shook my head, a little miffed, before I began to form neutral statements that would gain us some more Intel.

"It's no problem sir. But I was a bit confused as to what is planned for what we're doing. Could you shed more light on the scenario?" The man smiled at my comment and nodded, seemingly excited.

"Your drill sergeant said that you were having trouble understanding the concept of the super soldier program." Of course it was him. That bastard signed us up for the most painful program he could think of as punishment. The large man continued.

"You will be going to the capitol of Switzerland to receive treatment meant to make you stronger, faster, more responsive, and better leaders in a program code named the super soldier project. It consists of two injections in each arm. You'll need to eat a lot of protein and fiber before you get there, by order of the doctor overseeing the procedure, Doctor Angela Ziegler. After that, you'll be tested and deployed."

My eyes widened exponentially, but soon after I smiled. I cared not that it would hurt, only that I would be stronger and faster. I know it's cheesy, but all I want to do is save lives. I want to be there to prevent the moral breakdown of my world, and now I was finally getting what I wanted. I looked over to Gabe and noticed the same look on his mischievous face. Yes, we were in this for better or for worse.


End file.
